The IBPS SO a.k.a IBPS Specialist Officer Exam 2017 - 2018 for recruitment of specialist officer vacancies in public sector banks has been announced.Those who have completed specialized degrees (BE/ Btech/ MBA/ MCA etc.) will find IBPS SO notification as an oppurtunity to enter banking sector in professional cadre.

Just like PO (officer –scale I) & Clerks, Specialist Officer positions work in specific departments, which are present in all govt banks.Since IBPS SO exam is being released in November, joining/ allotments will happen in 2018 - 2019.

Although banks are said to be more interested in appointing officers with specialized knowledge than generalists, the number of vacancies created in previous years for such people were only low.

* Except those who are applying for IT officer, applicants registering for other post should have studied computers/ IT as a subject in high school/ college or any institute & hold a degree/ diploma or certificate.

There are no Scale II or III exams in this year`s IBPS SO recruitment.

Testing Methods

IBPS had taken the online route for PO & clerical CWEs. Similarly specialist officer examination would also be a computer based test with two stages - preliminary and main exams.

Prelims: The online preliminary written exam will be conducted at various centres in India in December 2017.A total of 150 objective questions need to be answered within 120 minutes.

It will consist of questions from sections such as english language, reasoning and general awareness/ quantitative aptitude.

Main exam: A paper/ section on ‘Professional Knowledge’ for 60 marks with questions from the subject related to the post you apply (Agriculture for agri field officers, Computers & IT for IT officer, Marketing for marketing officer etc.,).

How to Submit Registrations

The application fee is Rs.600 (Gen/OBC) & Rs.100 (SC/ST/PWD), which must be paid only via online mode through the payment gateway integrated in the online application.

On successful completion of payment, an e-receipt would be generated that you may save for future reference.

After submitting the registration form, make sure to note down your registration number & password in addition to taking a print of the application form.

Download Notice: Candidates who are interested to apply for IBPS SO 2017 - 2018 recruitment exam notification can download it from their official website here (pdf)